Rape accused: I’m disgusting but I’m not a sexsomniac
A MAN charged with raping two of his former partners admitted in court yesterday that he had been ‘an utterly disgusting human being’.
But Lawrence Barilli denied telling the women he suffered from ‘sexsomnia’.
This is a rare condition in which a person engages in sexual activity while asleep.
Giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, Barilli, 35, also told jurors he was ‘a disgrace’ but said it was ‘ludicrous’ to suggest he was a rapist.
Barilli, of Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, is charged with assaulting and raping the women between 2008 and 2012. He denies the charges.
Both women have told the court they suffered physically and sexually at his hands. One recalled he had sex with her ‘a couple of hundred times’ while she was initially asleep in bed.
Both alleged Barilli told them he suffered from ‘sexsomnia’.
Barilli was yesterday quizzed about the relationships by his QC, Tony Graham. Mr Graham asked if he had always had sex with the latter of the two lovers when she was ‘awake’.
He replied: ‘Every single time – always when she agreed.’
The advocate said Barilli may have treated the woman like a ‘possession’.
But he replied: ‘It is absolutely ludicrous that she could say something like that.
‘Never... rape is absolutely abhorrent. I am not a rapist... it is lunacy.’
He also said sex was ‘100 per cent consensual’ with the first girlfriend.
But the former RAF man did admit he had been physically abusive to both women. He said he had been jealous and paranoid, wrongly thinking they were going to cheat on him.
The first woman was described as ‘cowering’ during one incident.
The trial also heard he became angry with the other woman when he believed
‘Utterly despicable’
Spanish waiters were showing an interest in her during their holiday.
Mr Graham said: ‘I take it you accept you behaved as an utterly despicable human being?’
Barilli said: ‘I was an utterly disgusting human being.’
The QC asked: ‘Are you a rapist?’ He replied: ‘Never.’ Prosecutor Peter Ferguson, QC, later questioned Barilli on the claims that he had suffered from ‘sexsomnia’.
He asked: ‘These references... did you use that with the women?’ Barilli said: ‘No.’ The advocate depute asked: ‘So, that is also an invention?’
He replied: ‘I can only give my view – that did not happen, 110 per cent.’
The trial, before Judge Craig Scott, QC, continues.